‘Dead’ frustrations

'Accounts' afterparty took place at the Gotham Hall

Ohio native Katie Holmes returned to Broadway on Thursday night in “Dead Accounts” at the Music Box playing someone she knows intimately.

“An Ohio girl is a specific thing, so I play her with pride. I liked her because I feel she’s a good sister, with a lot of strength,” Holmes said at the Gotham Hall afterparty.

Following a headline-making divorce, Holmes chose Theresa Rebeck’s new comedy because “I love being onstage. And this play makes you think of your own value system,” she said. “Are the Midwestern values important? That’s interesting to think about.”

Added director Jack O’Brien: “I have a feeling that this girl who comes from Ohio understands this world completely and whatever thing she’s been going through in her life, there’s another person, fully formed, strong and resilient. And that’s what you’re seeing.”

“My secret ingredient?” asked the thesp. “This seems to be what the question of the evening is. I have three kids — maybe I take my pent-up frustrations from trying to raise three daughters (who are 15, 12 and two) out on the stage every day.”

“I do try to take care of myself,” he added, “swim every day, eat right. All the stuff they tell us to do in school.”